My Rendezvous with Life

Mary Pickford’s My Rendezvous with Life was her sequel, of sorts, to her earlier best-seller, Why Not Try God? Like the earlier work, this is in the form of an essay. This new edition, the first in many years, includes a new Afterword by film historian Dr. Anke Brouwers, and a comment on the unattributed poem, The Ship, that Pickford uses to close her short book. My Rendezvous with Life presents Mary Pickford’s thoughts on what it is to lose a loved one, and why she believes that there is an afterlife in which we may be reunited with those we have lost. It is a non-denominational approach, and one that displays great care and understanding of the enduring ache that people feel when they experience the death of a loved one. But Pickford’s approach to death is not the dose of sentimental syrup that we might expect from America’s Sweetheart. Instead she finds reason why we should face death without tears and wailing. She also details, from several points of view, the compelling reasons she has found for believing in a life beyond death. Her ideas are thoughtful, and winningly presented. My Rendezvous with Life is a hopeful, comforting book about challenges we all have to face in this journey that is our lives.